Mindplay and Fingerdance – Ragnheiður Jónsdóttir’s career in art

17 November 2012 –

Kjarvalsstaðir

During her forty year career the prolific and influential artist Ragnheiður Jónsdóttir has produced works which still live on in the popular imagination of Icelanders. She began her career as an artist but soon became one of the pioneers who put graphic art firmly on the map of the Icelandic art scene during the 1970s and 80s. Her various interpretations of the daily grind became contemporary symbols, especially within the women’s liberation movement and contributed to their debate on one’s individual identity which was very much on the agenda in the West at the time. Ragnheiður’s reputation went before her and she took part in a great number of exhibitions in various countries. Her lithographic work can be seen in various galleries abroad, from the Faroe Islands to Egypt, and of course her work is also to be found in a great many museums in Iceland.

Around 1990 Ragnheiður began to turn her attention more to drawing on a large canvas where the free and easy interplay of lines created a multi-faceted pattern which ebbed and flowed over the painting. From that time drawings have been central to Ragnheiður’s art. These large drawings, which are often themed, express the essence of life and capture the vibrancy of land and sky, revealing nature in micro and macrocosms. The artist’s interpretation of nature fills the viewer’s senses. Ragnheiður Jónsdóttir has always been a dynamic artist and this makes it worth pausing and reflecting on the path she has trodden. This retrospective look at Ragnheiður’s work is curated by Eiríkur Þorláksson.